Savarez 500 AJ High Tension... Been working well for me. Good volume tune well with some longevity... When you play steel guitar and 12 string high tension nylon is really nothing for your hands Plus I like to bear into them sometimes without a great deal of buzz.. Side note high tension is what I like but keep in mind not every instrument likes high tension so be mindful of that..
Thanks so much, Nathasja. Over the last couple of months I tried all these strings. I settled on the knobloch. Augustine trebles really sang! But overall they were short-lived and tuning was a constant struggle. Hannabachs were long-lived but, in the end, I really enjoyed the mellow tone of the knoblochs - my guitar is very bright so these strings provide some nice tonal balance.
I would recommend that you experiment with Aquila strings. If you are looking for set that stays stable with a great response to tonal nuances (colors), then the Alabastro set by Aquila is great. And you won’t need a carbon g with it. I like the Savarez basses, but the nylon trebles are bland like you said.
Have you tried Aquila Sugar strings? Made with sugar cane. They are sweet. But I don't recommend them. Very squeaky on the trebles from your right hand. But I wonder if you have tried Jose Ramirez strings? Or the Aquila Nylgut?
Thank you. I am a steel string player but I play a classical a lot and it’s very different finding Classical strings. I am trying normal tension right now and so far I feel the difference in the fretting hand and not much sound difference.
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. Funny enough I'm experimenting exactly with Cantiga, Augustin, and soon Knobloch (Not Knoblauch LOL - that's garlic in German; Knobloch is a good old bohemian name - maybe meaning garlick?). Anyway, some humble observations from my side: - as to Cantiga which tension depends very much on the guitar; some benefit from higher tension, some work better with normal tension. But in both cases I found the trebles a bit irritating fore some unknown to me reason. So what I do is I combine Cantiga (or even better Cantiga Premium Creation EADg set (g is a carbon (alliance) string) with either Augustin Imperials (for normal tension) or Regals (for HT) e-1 and b-2. For me these two Augustin nylon trebles are among the very best nylon trebles. And as they are quite durable, you can exchange only EAD basses, so the settling of these strings goes faster (as usual for basses) - unless Hannabach have again better quality controls I have made tzhe experiences that the bass strings (most notoriously D) are badly out of tune internally. This made using them a no go some years a go, and then considering their price. Out of three two basses were more or less unusable. The soud of the basses was not bad and they were indeed very durable, but then, with internal intonation problem, even if it was only the D-string... And the trebles belonged to most boring sounding nylon trbles for me, so I would use the basses only anyway. - As to Augustin I share your experience that Augustin Blue is a wonderfully sounding and playable string, though rather on the HT end of the spectrum, but very short lived. My advantage is maybe that I quite like when the strings are a bit worn, but even with that, after 3-4 weeks they are dead for good. About trebles I already wrote. - Knobloch is all the buzz, and I have ordered some to try them. Not here yet. Again thanks for your thoughts... best wishes
Am having difficulty finding the specific set of Knobloch Archives strings you discussed. Can you provide the specific model information please? Thanks!
Interessante video. Wat is de reden om voor zo een hoge tension te gaan. Ik wil de knobloch nylon set gaan uitproberen. Persoonlijk gebruik ik de carbon sets van Knobloch, maar de hoge E klinkt zo metalig altijd met carbon. Ik heb de Augustine set al geprobeerd, maar die vind ik te helder voor mijn gitaar, en de bassen zijn niet zo geweldig. Maar zoals gezegd, wat zijn de voordelen van de super high tension tov van lagere spanningen, op het gebied van klank, sustain, volume etc.
Dankjewel. De superhigh tension heeft de eigenschappen van hightension, helder maar mooi warm, lange sustain, diepe bassen. De hightension vind ik persoonlijk te slap; klinkt heel anders en lijkt eerder medium tension op mijn gitaar. Een kwestie van uitproberen… ik denk dat jij ivm metalic sound de nylon set zult waarderen.
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 Bedankt voor je antwoord. Dat Knobloch wat aan de slappe kant is kan wel kloppen, hun carbon snaren zijn ook aardig slap met medium, zelfs een lichte buzz op de op open B-snaar. Ik ga eerst high tension proberen, de QZ nylon eerst, want het klankprofiel spreekt mij wat meer aan. Maar dat is puur uitproberen natuurlijk. Ik krijg ze vandaag binnen.. Dank nogmaals, voor je leuke video.
Hoi Natasja. Nuttige video! Ik ben inmiddels de knoflook aan het proberen. Ook ik heb kunstnagels. Kan je me vertellen welk type kunstnagel jou het beste bevalt? Ik heb nu gelnagels.
I studied classical guitar at conservatory and I am making guitars since 2008. Over the years I tried every string on the market several times. Knobloch are easily the best. Not because they are special in any way but simply good in every way. Every other manufacturer is cutting cost at the wrong end. Especially the big names don't deserve their reputation at all. For example D'Addario have best marketing, nice package, but the reason many known players advertise them is simply because they get them for free or much cheaper. In reality these strings don't stay in tune and are worn off in two weeks - they are one of the worst strings on the market. Knobloch is very elaborate in terms of tension balance, material mix, thickness of the silver coating and they always stay in tune. A friend of mine used them on stage on his flamenco guitar for over a year and they still sounded nice! I even recommend the pure silver ones for 50-70€, as they last easily 5 times as long as regular strings and stay very consistent.
If I understood correctly, you are replacing your G string with the Alliance Carbon - even with the expensive Hannabach's. Could you please explain further your reasoning? I've had issues with my G string too and I came across a Savarez pack which actually packs an Alliance G string together with the New Crystal, and Cantiga Basses, so i'm intrigued :)
Correct, because the g is too thick as a nylon string and therefore sounds very different and mostly ungood of sound colour and out of tune… The carbon g stays better in the same registers with the other strings. Therefore I prefere a carbon g. 😁
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 that makes a lot of sense. I am currently using the Savarez pack I mentioned, which includes the Carbon G, and I feel this is the most balanced Savarez pack I have tried so far.
My personal preference is for strings that don't impose their personality on the guitar. If you have a good guitar, that should not be necessary or even desirable but, to a lesser or greater degree, it doesn't apply to the strings mentioned here.
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 Yes indeed, of the strings you mentioned the Cantigas are the best in that regard but the old Savarez basses that first appeared in the '50s are even better (520), with the proviso that they won't suit a guitar that works best with high tension strings. (I only use medium tension.) Of course string makers want to make a string that makes the average guitar sound better than it is, but this is not always to the advantage of the player.
Thanks can't wait to try out the Hannabach's I just ordered!
Savarez 500 AJ High Tension... Been working well for me. Good volume tune well with some longevity... When you play steel guitar and 12 string high tension nylon is really nothing for your hands Plus I like to bear into them sometimes without a great deal of buzz.. Side note high tension is what I like but keep in mind not every instrument likes high tension so be mindful of that..
Thanks so much, Nathasja. Over the last couple of months I tried all these strings. I settled on the knobloch. Augustine trebles really sang! But overall they were short-lived and tuning was a constant struggle. Hannabachs were long-lived but, in the end, I really enjoyed the mellow tone of the knoblochs - my guitar is very bright so these strings provide some nice tonal balance.
Great Nigel! Good to read this 👍🏻
That's got to be the best explanation about classical guitar strings I've seen so far. Very helpful thank you 👍. Worth a subcribtion.
Thank you so much and happy it helped you out 🥂🎶
I would recommend that you experiment with Aquila strings. If you are looking for set that stays stable with a great response to tonal nuances (colors), then the Alabastro set by Aquila is great. And you won’t need a carbon g with it. I like the Savarez basses, but the nylon trebles are bland like you said.
I will try them, thank you for your tip 👍🏻
Thank you for sharing your insights:)
Have you tried Aquila Sugar strings? Made with sugar cane. They are sweet. But I don't recommend them. Very squeaky on the trebles from your right hand. But I wonder if you have tried Jose Ramirez strings? Or the Aquila Nylgut?
Love the Piazzolla in the background.
Thanks, it was helpful. Looking forward to watching new videos from you, it's been a while!
Thank you! Back in playing concerts again but I’ll do my best 😊
Thank you for your time.
Hope you can have a bit of benefit from it 😀
You should try Aquila Sugar.
Thank you. I am a steel string player but I play a classical a lot and it’s very different finding Classical strings. I am trying normal tension right now and so far I feel the difference in the fretting hand and not much sound difference.
Thank you for sharing. For my righthand technique the norma tension is too weak and I miss some volume as well..
Wonderful; review.Could you update by looking at Hannabach Goldin D'Addario XT Sevilla and Magma as well as Thomastik carbon
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. Funny enough I'm experimenting exactly with Cantiga, Augustin, and soon Knobloch (Not Knoblauch LOL - that's garlic in German; Knobloch is a good old bohemian name - maybe meaning garlick?).
Anyway, some humble observations from my side:
- as to Cantiga which tension depends very much on the guitar; some benefit from higher tension, some work better with normal tension. But in both cases I found the trebles a bit irritating fore some unknown to me reason. So what I do is I combine Cantiga (or even better Cantiga Premium Creation EADg set (g is a carbon (alliance) string) with either Augustin Imperials (for normal tension) or Regals (for HT) e-1 and b-2. For me these two Augustin nylon trebles are among the very best nylon trebles. And as they are quite durable, you can exchange only EAD basses, so the settling of these strings goes faster (as usual for basses)
- unless Hannabach have again better quality controls I have made tzhe experiences that the bass strings (most notoriously D) are badly out of tune internally. This made using them a no go some years a go, and then considering their price. Out of three two basses were more or less unusable. The soud of the basses was not bad and they were indeed very durable, but then, with internal intonation problem, even if it was only the D-string...
And the trebles belonged to most boring sounding nylon trbles for me, so I would use the basses only anyway.
- As to Augustin I share your experience that Augustin Blue is a wonderfully sounding and playable string, though rather on the HT end of the spectrum, but very short lived. My advantage is maybe that I quite like when the strings are a bit worn, but even with that, after 3-4 weeks they are dead for good. About trebles I already wrote.
- Knobloch is all the buzz, and I have ordered some to try them. Not here yet.
Again thanks for your thoughts... best wishes
Thank you for sharing! I made mistakes by saying “Knoblauch” instead of “Knobloch” wich is why the joke…. 😂Goodluck with your playing 👍🏻🎶
Am having difficulty finding the specific set of Knobloch Archives strings you discussed. Can you provide the specific model information please? Thanks!
Interessante video. Wat is de reden om voor zo een hoge tension te gaan. Ik wil de knobloch nylon set gaan uitproberen. Persoonlijk gebruik ik de carbon sets van Knobloch, maar de hoge E klinkt zo metalig altijd met carbon. Ik heb de Augustine set al geprobeerd, maar die vind ik te helder voor mijn gitaar, en de bassen zijn niet zo geweldig. Maar zoals gezegd, wat zijn de voordelen van de super high tension tov van lagere spanningen, op het gebied van klank, sustain, volume etc.
Dankjewel. De superhigh tension heeft de eigenschappen van hightension, helder maar mooi warm, lange sustain, diepe bassen. De hightension vind ik persoonlijk te slap; klinkt heel anders en lijkt eerder medium tension op mijn gitaar. Een kwestie van uitproberen… ik denk dat jij ivm metalic sound de nylon set zult waarderen.
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 Bedankt voor je antwoord. Dat Knobloch wat aan de slappe kant is kan wel kloppen, hun carbon snaren zijn ook aardig slap met medium, zelfs een lichte buzz op de op open B-snaar. Ik ga eerst high tension proberen, de QZ nylon eerst, want het klankprofiel spreekt mij wat meer aan. Maar dat is puur uitproberen natuurlijk. Ik krijg ze vandaag binnen.. Dank nogmaals, voor je leuke video.
Hoi Natasja. Nuttige video! Ik ben inmiddels de knoflook aan het proberen. Ook ik heb kunstnagels. Kan je me vertellen welk type kunstnagel jou het beste bevalt? Ik heb nu gelnagels.
Super, Sjors. Ik zoek nog naar goede nagels, mijn oude merk was Revlon maar die zijn niet meer verkrijgbaar in de juiste versie.
I studied classical guitar at conservatory and I am making guitars since 2008. Over the years I tried every string on the market several times.
Knobloch are easily the best. Not because they are special in any way but simply good in every way. Every other manufacturer is cutting cost at the wrong end. Especially the big names don't deserve their reputation at all. For example D'Addario have best marketing, nice package, but the reason many known players advertise them is simply because they get them for free or much cheaper. In reality these strings don't stay in tune and are worn off in two weeks - they are one of the worst strings on the market.
Knobloch is very elaborate in terms of tension balance, material mix, thickness of the silver coating and they always stay in tune.
A friend of mine used them on stage on his flamenco guitar for over a year and they still sounded nice!
I even recommend the pure silver ones for 50-70€, as they last easily 5 times as long as regular strings and stay very consistent.
If I understood correctly, you are replacing your G string with the Alliance Carbon - even with the expensive Hannabach's. Could you please explain further your reasoning? I've had issues with my G string too and I came across a Savarez pack which actually packs an Alliance G string together with the New Crystal, and Cantiga Basses, so i'm intrigued :)
Correct, because the g is too thick as a nylon string and therefore sounds very different and mostly ungood of sound colour and out of tune… The carbon g stays better in the same registers with the other strings. Therefore I prefere a carbon g. 😁
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 that makes a lot of sense. I am currently using the Savarez pack I mentioned, which includes the Carbon G, and I feel this is the most balanced Savarez pack I have tried so far.
2:58 interesting
My personal preference is for strings that don't impose their personality on the guitar. If you have a good guitar, that should not be necessary or even desirable but, to a lesser or greater degree, it doesn't apply to the strings mentioned here.
I agree with you, apart from the Savarez, these strings indeed are very neutral.
@@nathasjavanrosse6012 Yes indeed, of the strings you mentioned the Cantigas are the best in that regard but the old Savarez basses that first appeared in the '50s are even better (520), with the proviso that they won't suit a guitar that works best with high tension strings. (I only use medium tension.) Of course string makers want to make a string that makes the average guitar sound better than it is, but this is not always to the advantage of the player.
who cares... ?